Hot Water: crackZutara
by SpatialHeather
Summary: Tired of Zuko kidnappingcapturingtricking Katara? So was I. Drabble Series of some things I don't see often enough in your average Zutara FanFic... Characters slightly OOC XD
1. Capture

_**Hot Water:**_ crack!Zutara

* * *

_I had accomplished my goal, the goal I had had in my heart since my mother was lost to me. I was ending this war, now I had the perfect prisoner to help me carry out my plan. It hadn't taken much to trick my unsuspecting captive, and even the most powerful benders could not stop me now. And why would they want to? _

_"Katara," I growled to the hostage, "_my _name is _Katara_."_

* * *

Zuko was furious. She had taken advantage of his delusional illness, and Uncle had done nothing to stop her! Actually, Zuko was pretty sure Iroh had helped them, who else would know that pig-wool was fire proof? Or so itchy. He squirmed again in the strong wool ropes that had him bound to the tall stone, undoubtedly the earth bender's doing. His hands flared up, but the pig-wool gloves bound to his hands quickly smothered the flames. 

"Let me go water bender," he yelled again. He would not give her the honor of hearing him speak her name.

She turned away from him, ignoring his rage. Flames erupted from his mouth, almost reaching her. She turned violently, her braid cracking like a whip in the air. Suddenly, his face from the eyes down was covered in a thick block of ice. When he realized he couldn't breath, he started to panick, violently trying to shake the ice off.

"You will keep that mouth of yours in check, fever bender," she melted the ice, leaving him drenched.

"FEVER BENDER?!?"

Katara's glare was enough to freeze the water around his neck to the stone. The ice slowly expanded, and Zuko stayed calm and quiet to reserve his oxegyn. She slowly walked around the pole, a scene from the past playing in her mind.

"This scenario seems quite… familiar, don't you think?" Zuko scowled. "Only this time… you don't have anything to barter with, now do you? _Especially not your honor… _Now you will control that _temper _of yours…" Zuko could barely concentrate on her words any longer. "Or I'll be forced to use _this_." From around his shoulders she held a wide band of the thick, itchy, pig-wool up to his face. Not only would it inhibit him from fire-breathing, but it would keep him quiet… and suffering.

Zuko's eye's drooped in resignation, and Katara melted the ice again. Zuko gasped for breath, but kept his fire from escaping.

* * *

"I gotta hand it to you though, you're worthless as a hostage," Zuko glared at the water bender. "You haven't noticed? Nobody wants you… Not your father, your sister… your uncle practically threw you at us." Zuko waited for her to mention his mother, ready to die defending her honor, even if he couldn't have his own. But though he waited, that attack never came. "But… there is this country of yours. Not because you rule it mind you, its just as much yours as the Water Tribes are mine… but still…" 

"They don't want me either."

"…Not yet."

* * *

It may have been cruel, calling him fever bender, but so far it had been accurate. He was still sick from what ever ailment had struck him in Ba Sing Sei. Iroh seemed to know more about it than he let on, but Katara didn't care… not really… that much, anyway. 

But she could no longer rely on Aang to save the world, that belief had gone out with one flash of lightning. He was having trouble bending since his brush with death in the Avatar State, and what good was a non-bending Avatar? No, this war would have to end with the people, after all, there was nobody else left to save them, they would have to save themselves. Her mind traveled back to the pirates who had changed her way of thinking, long ago, long before Toph, Kuei, or Iroh had joined them. The pirates had been people. Yes, they stole and conned and even tried to kill, but the point was not what they did, but the fact that they did it together, despite the color of their clothes, or eyes, or hair, or skin. The people of the world would bring down the Fire Lord.

Their group, during their travels, had met many peoples, and gained many loyalties. The warriors and people of the southern and northern Water Tribes, the Swamp Water Tribe, the people and warriors of Kyoshi, the Omashu resistance, the Freedom Fighters, the Gan Jin and Zhang, the Northern Air Temple dwellers, countless other Earth Kingdom citizens… and Fire Army deserters… and Traitors.

But the assistance of the Fire Nation _people_, the commoners, would be crucial when the Eclipse came. And Katara figured that this sword-swingin Prince who had been banished for speaking against the Fire Lord, for speaking up for their brothers and sons, would be just the person to rally them. If only he could see the honor in it. _Of course keeping him tied to the stone wasn't doing much for his honor._ Katara knew he wouldn't break, he would die first… She needed a better plan than kidnapping him and hauling him off to his country; nothing was stopping him from attacking them and his traitorous uncle. Katara smiled. _Not yet anyway._

* * *

**_AN: _**I was tired of Zuko capturing/kidnapping/tricking Katara. They are slightly OOC, but this was mainly to poke at the average Zutara fanfic... don't get me wrong, some are great, but after a while... seriously? I also wanted for the everyday people of the Avatarverse to get some recognition for the part that they could play in ending the war. 

Enough Reviews and I'll do another drabble of things I haven't seen enough of in Zutara FanFics... muahahahaaha! (/randomevillaughter) It would be about Fire Nation people post-war (and post Zutarian wedding XD)

Adi&Ono,

-SpatialHeather


	2. Fire Lady Water Bender

_**Hot Water:**_ crack!Zutara

_Fire Lady Water Bender_

* * *

"I can't believe he's marrying her…" The three Fire Nation citizens sat at the counter in the Jasmine Dragon _Re'._

"Do you think its some sort of Peace Agreement?"

"What ever happened to _traditions_?"

"Can you just imagine _them_ married?"

"I have to say, It'll probably never work…"

"…"

"Don't be so cynical, Lady Katara won't let him pussy out of this marriage."

"I still think she could do _so _much better."

* * *

"Have you noticed the people being… somewhat… I don't know, hostile about our marriage?" Zuko asked Katara quietly as they walked down the street of a medium sized town. 

Katara returned another smile, another wave, "How are you Ren?"

"Very well indeed, thank you, Lady Katara," Ren bowed deeply to her as she passed.

"No, not really Zuko. They're just as nice to me as they were during the war… after I finally got to meet them anyway." A child's cry was heard around the corner, Katara hurried toward it, leaving Zuko in the dust.

_Whack!_

"Hey!" Zuko spun around after something hard had hit him in the back of the head. He looked from the doorways to the rooftops, but nobody was there, even Ren seemed to have disappeared quickly.

---

"Thank you for healing my arm, Lady Water bender!" A small girl smiled up at the Fire Lady, flexing the arm she had broken when falling out of a tree.

"Zhi!" the girl's mother chastised, "Its _Fire _Lady Waterbe- I mean, Katara."

"Its no problem," Katara smiled, giving the girl a kind pat on the head.

A young boy walked out of the nearby house with four glasses of water balanced on a tray. The three females each took a glass and drank thankfully. The boy, Jian, saw the Fire Lord approach, and quickly downed the remaining glass of water. Jian pretended not to notice when the Fire Lord flinched after being hit in the back with another pebble.

"Katara, lets go."

Not one to obey orders, she turned back to the young mother, "So how have things been this last year?" Katara asked solemnly.

"Well, you know, it was hard learning that my husband had died, but we've been doing better, and at least Jian has a future now… You've brought us hope Fire Lady."

"No, she's still in Ba Sing Sei," Katara joked lightly; the legend of Baby Hope was well known across the Nations. The small family shared the light moment before exchanging bows as Zuko turned to walk back toward the dock.

"Zuko!" Katara chided loudly, "Did you go rolling in the dirt? You're _filthy_." Splotches of dirt covered his hair and the back of his royal robe from where tiny mud clods had broken up upon impact. With each step Zuko took, a cloud of dust rose into the air.

Zuko turned and glared at her, "These were supposed to be _my _people."

"They are your people Zuko," she said with her head held high, hands clasped in front of her, walking centimeters ahead of Zuko. "But you aren't their Cheif."

Zuko flinched and Katara smirked.

Jian lowered his emptied slingshot and exchanged a high-five with Ren.

* * *

_**AN: **_Walah, next drabble-chapter as originally mentioned in the AN of the first chapter. Not what you expected? Have an idea you like to see? just post it and I'll see if I can get it to work in my messed-up head. I was thinking some Blutara goodness if no other ideas came to mind... 

Inspiration: Why do writers have the Fire People make such a big deal about Katara being Fire Lady? They fight the pairing more than Kataangers and ruthlessly sabatoge Katara's well being. I guess I can understand some nobles being that way, but I think the everyday people would probably like her more than Zuko.

And in the continuation of OOCness, Katara has successfully conquered the Fire Nation? (with love of course)

I'm going off these definitions of ré: 1 hot 2 enthusiastic 3 with power and influence 4 envious 5 new 6 ardent; profound 7 noisy 8 intimate 9 be acceptable; be well received 10 hot object 11 heat 12 fever; temperature 13 temperature 14 craze; popular; be in great demand 15 heat up 16 burn 17 be fidgety 18 excite. In case you couldn't figure it out, it's a Fire Nation's franchise of the chain of Iroh's _Jasmine Dragon_ tea shops… XD


	3. Demasked

_Demasked  
_

* * *

_He fastened the head ties of the oni mask behind his black-hooded head. It had taken a long time to find an similiar one. As it was, this one was a different shade of blue, and it's smile not quite as exaggerated, but it would do for what he had planned… all he needed was an unfamiliar face as he slipped out of the campsite._

* * *

When Katara woke up suddenly, she spotted a figure lurking on the along edge of the Rebellion camp. She knew instantly that the person wasn't a Rebel, like the hundreds of people sleeping in tents all around her: They all wore a muted shade of brown… something about mixing all the colors of the elements. This lurker was adorned in a tight fitting pitch black outfit. Katara shifted around on Appa to have a better look at the person through one of the holes in his saddle.

* * *

Upon reaching the tree line, the Blue Spirit turned back quickly to make sure nobody had noticed him, and then slipped into the woods. He walked for a few minutes in the direction of the closest Fire Village before hearing a snap of a twig behind him.

Turning to see an angered water bender, the Blue Spirit stood tall, there was no reason for her to attack him.

* * *

But she did.

Two ice shards pinned him to a tree before melting and fastening his hands more securely on the trunk.

"What in the name of Yue do you think you're doing?"

He was silent: the Blue Spirit didn't talk.

"What, can't talk with that mask on your face?"

He lifted his chin and pushed his head back against the trunk of the tree, determined to not let her reveal him.

"Enough of this game, get back to the camp Zuko," She turned and started back through the trees.

_Had he heard her right? _

"Zuko, come on! You can melt the ice yourself, I'm not doing it for you." Zuko had been getting on Katara's nerves less lately, but then he has go and pull a stunt like this? Trying to escape from the only people who accepted him even if he was a jerk?

"How did you know?" He said quietly, suddenly the copper pieces in his pocket seemed to gain weight.

"What?" Katara turned back to look him in they eye-holes.

"How did you know it was me?"

It still took Katara a minute to realize that he hadn't known she had known who he was, "Aang told me a long time ago, when I saw a wanted poster of you." She walked over closer to him.

"A Wanted poster?"

"uh-huh. I _told you _your nation wanted you. Now take that silly thing off and lets get back." When he was slow to react, she yanked it off herself. "You look better without it anyway."

"So you like how I look?"

"I just find it awfully creepy."

* * *

_**AN: **_Well, I think the Blue Spirit Oni Mask is really creepy, but I (like a lot of people) don't like clowns.

Inspiration: Katara's not stupid, and from what we saw in _Blue Spirit (ep13) _Its also pretty easy to see behind the mask, literally. Long term interaction between her and The Blue Spirit seems like, well… BS (But does make for some very fun fanfics).

Also, I wanted the Gaang to be the ones who joined a Rebel force, instead of random people always joining them… although I didn't really touch on it much XD. Plus I liked Iroh/Zuko/JeongJeong/Chey in muted colors.

Zuko's plan? Well, everyone can think of something or other he'd want to do in a village with some money… from buying passage to the Fire Palace to anonymously buying flowers for Katara… I'll let you decide XD

Sorry for the shortness, this entire thing was based off one sentence: "Aang had told Katara that the Blue Spirit was Zuko ."


End file.
